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Kefka a pushover?

To me as a final boss I never felt he was so hard to beat. The first time I beat him I didn't even try that hard and I beat him. Of course he has epic battle music but I really wanted a challenge with Kefka but I felt let down. I even tried not using summons magic spells or anything that would make the fight easier and I still beat him without much trouble. Does anyone feel like the difficulty could have been upped to make Kefka a lot harder?

Are you talking about his Mahou no Kami battle, so the final one or also the Hell, Earth, Heaven stages? Because I thought as long as you were not full of Ultimas, Ultima Weapon, Gem Box, Offering, Illumina and all, the battles were solid enough.

Yeah, he's a complete lightweight for a final boss, even with less than optimal builds.

I wrote up a while back an Idea of how I would make the fight more challenging in an older thread.

Kefka (Final Boss)

Kefka now takes half damage from all magic, even non-elemental spells* (Flare, Ultima) and skills that use Magic power to determine damage (Lores, some Rages/Blitz/Tools/Bushido/Slots)

Trine, in addition to silence and blind, now inflicts Sap, Confusion, Imp, and Slow.

Vengeance, in addition to dispelling all Buff effects on party, and grants them to Kefka except Reraise/shell/protect/reflect which if present heals Kefka instead for 1000hp per status per character that had the status.

Forsaken now ignores defense and split damage, meaning it will most likely be a party wipe skill, though Shell status will reduce damage by 25% and Jump/Hide status will be immune.

Havoc Wing has a 10% chance of ejecting the character from the battle field.

Kefka now has four hit box placements on his sprite. Only one can actually have damage inflicted on him but its also the only one the player can target normally. Unfocused attacks from Blitzes, Rages, and X-Fight can still target these dummy hit boxes, but they have no HP and will count as a miss.

Boss Phases

Phase 1
Full HP to 41,000 HP

Kefka starts the battle with Heartless Angel/Fallen One

Kefka Immediately casts Barrier Change

In this phase only one elemental spell will hurt him of the 8 elements. He still only takes Half Damage from the spell though.

Non-elemental spells used on him in this phase will be countered with Ultima

All non-magic attacks will miss

If Quick is used, Kefka will counter with Fallen One followed by an immediate use of Ultima.

Kefka will alternate between the three -aga spells, Havoc Wing, Vengeance, and Fallen One

Phase 2
40,999 to 20,000

Kefka will drop the Magic Barrier ruse and start charging Forsaken

Kefka takes half damage from all magic and has a 50% evasion to all physical skills. Kefka will not be hit by any unfocussed spells (Quake, Meltdown, Tornado) that he casts.

Kefka will counter any physical hit with Havoc Wing

Kefka will dual cast all magic spells and adds Bio, Graviga, Quake, Meltdown and Tornado to the list. Kefka will still use Fallen One, Vengeance, and Havok Wing though only 33% of the time.

If Barrage/X-Fight is used with a physical attack, Kefka will immediately counter with Vengeace, then Fallen One followed by Ultima even if the player attack reduces his HP to zero.

Phase 3
19,999 to 0Hp

Kefka will use Vengeance whenever ReRaise is active on a party member except when his algorithm has him casting Ultima next.

Kefka takes half damage from all magic and has a 50% evasion to all physical skills. Kefka will not be hit by any unfocussed spells (Quake, Meltdown, Tornado) that he casts, but is still susceptible to any the party uses.

Kefka will now have an irremovable status effects of Haste/Protect/Shell

Kefka will counter any physical hit with Havoc Wing

Kefka will replace Havoc Wing with Hyperdrive in his normal repertoire of attacks.

Kefka will now triple cast Flare, Holy, and Meteor. He will single cast Ultima.

Kefka can now also use Curaga which will restore 9999hp, if Kefka's HP somehow returns to Phase One status, Kefka will enact the Barrier Change tactic again but still retain all of his abilities from Phase 3.

Kefka will still charge up and use Forsaken though its casting time is faster.

When HP is reduced to zero, Kefka will use the attack Light of Judgement as a final attack. LoJ will be just a recolored version of Forsaken, Kefka will also use his trademark laugh as he disintegrates.

Yeah, he's a complete lightweight for a final boss, even with less than optimal builds.

I wrote up a while back an Idea of how I would make the fight more challenging in an older thread.

Kefka (Final Boss)

Kefka now takes half damage from all magic, even non-elemental spells* (Flare, Ultima) and skills that use Magic power to determine damage (Lores, some Rages/Blitz/Tools/Bushido/Slots)

Trine, in addition to silence and blind, now inflicts Sap, Confusion, Imp, and Slow.

Vengeance, in addition to dispelling all Buff effects on party, and grants them to Kefka except Reraise/shell/protect/reflect which if present heals Kefka instead for 1000hp per status per character that had the status.

Forsaken now ignores defense and split damage, meaning it will most likely be a party wipe skill, though Shell status will reduce damage by 25% and Jump/Hide status will be immune.

Havoc Wing has a 10% chance of ejecting the character from the battle field.

Kefka now has four hit box placements on his sprite. Only one can actually have damage inflicted on him but its also the only one the player can target normally. Unfocused attacks from Blitzes, Rages, and X-Fight can still target these dummy hit boxes, but they have no HP and will count as a miss.

Boss Phases

Phase 1
Full HP to 41,000 HP

Kefka starts the battle with Heartless Angel/Fallen One

Kefka Immediately casts Barrier Change

In this phase only one elemental spell will hurt him of the 8 elements. He still only takes Half Damage from the spell though.

Non-elemental spells used on him in this phase will be countered with Ultima

All non-magic attacks will miss

If Quick is used, Kefka will counter with Fallen One followed by an immediate use of Ultima.

Kefka will alternate between the three -aga spells, Havoc Wing, Vengeance, and Fallen One

Phase 2
40,999 to 20,000

Kefka will drop the Magic Barrier ruse and start charging Forsaken

Kefka takes half damage from all magic and has a 50% evasion to all physical skills. Kefka will not be hit by any unfocussed spells (Quake, Meltdown, Tornado) that he casts.

Kefka will counter any physical hit with Havoc Wing

Kefka will dual cast all magic spells and adds Bio, Graviga, Quake, Meltdown and Tornado to the list. Kefka will still use Fallen One, Vengeance, and Havok Wing though only 33% of the time.

If Barrage/X-Fight is used with a physical attack, Kefka will immediately counter with Vengeace, then Fallen One followed by Ultima even if the player attack reduces his HP to zero.

Phase 3
19,999 to 0Hp

Kefka will use Vengeance whenever ReRaise is active on a party member except when his algorithm has him casting Ultima next.

Kefka takes half damage from all magic and has a 50% evasion to all physical skills. Kefka will not be hit by any unfocussed spells (Quake, Meltdown, Tornado) that he casts, but is still susceptible to any the party uses.

Kefka will now have an irremovable status effects of Haste/Protect/Shell

Kefka will counter any physical hit with Havoc Wing

Kefka will replace Havoc Wing with Hyperdrive in his normal repertoire of attacks.

Kefka will now triple cast Flare, Holy, and Meteor. He will single cast Ultima.

Kefka can now also use Curaga which will restore 9999hp, if Kefka's HP somehow returns to Phase One status, Kefka will enact the Barrier Change tactic again but still retain all of his abilities from Phase 3.

Kefka will still charge up and use Forsaken though its casting time is faster.

When HP is reduced to zero, Kefka will use the attack Light of Judgement as a final attack. LoJ will be just a recolored version of Forsaken, Kefka will also use his trademark laugh as he disintegrates.

Nice list and yes he is a total lightweight. They hyped him up to be this god like figure and when you get to him he really wasn't that tough. I thought when you first faced him in the snowy field behind Narshe I thought he was a good enough challenge. Hopefully if there is a redone version square will make Kefka a lot harder.

He's a kid with a gun. I can't say I'm surprised. He stumbled into power, it's not like he actually knew what he was doing. So it makes sense. It's like the weirdo ending to old-timey action movies when the hero finally faces down the leader of a gang who's sat on his ass behind a desk too much ordering people around and not doing anything himself, and can't put up a good fight once finally confronted

Granted, Hollywood eventually realized that's no fun, and now usually makes head honchos ridiculously skilled for a worthwhile final showdown. I just can't imagine Kefka studying and practicing to become a master with/against magic and martial arts

He's a kid with a gun. I can't say I'm surprised. He stumbled into power, it's not like he actually knew what he was doing. So it makes sense. It's like the weirdo ending to old-timey action movies when the hero finally faces down the leader of a gang who's sat on his ass behind a desk too much ordering people around and not doing anything himself, and can't put up a good fight once finally confronted

Granted, Hollywood eventually realized that's no fun, and now usually makes head honchos ridiculously skilled for a worthwhile final showdown. I just can't imagine Kefka studying and practicing to become a master with/against magic and martial arts

If you want to make the fight challenging, I suggest building a party consisting of Umaro, Mog, Gogo, and Gau. Umaro must be imped, Mog must use Dance, Gogo can only use Rage or Dance and must do the same as Mog or Gau's rules, and Gau is restricted to WoB Rages.

@Sephiroth

Nice ideas, I especially like the shout-out to the Warring Triad names Nomura used in the production phase for them.

He's a kid with a gun. I can't say I'm surprised. He stumbled into power, it's not like he actually knew what he was doing. So it makes sense. It's like the weirdo ending to old-timey action movies when the hero finally faces down the leader of a gang who's sat on his ass behind a desk too much ordering people around and not doing anything himself, and can't put up a good fight once finally confronted

Granted, Hollywood eventually realized that's no fun, and now usually makes head honchos ridiculously skilled for a worthwhile final showdown. I just can't imagine Kefka studying and practicing to become a master with/against magic and martial arts

If you want to make the fight challenging, I suggest building a party consisting of Umaro, Mog, Gogo, and Gau. Umaro must be imped, Mog must use Dance, Gogo can only use Rage or Dance and must do the same as Mog or Gau's rules, and Gau is restricted to WoB Rages.

@Sephiroth

Nice ideas, I especially like the shout-out to the Warring Triad names Nomura used in the production phase for them.

Forget the rage off hand, but one of them basically can charm Kefka making him destroy himself. Rage is a giant no no for a challenge.